Tuesday 26 March 2013

The Grant Nose, You Know

Hello everyone

As we are moving into the last week of the Audrey Grant solo exhibition, I thought we'd take a closer look at specific parts of her figures....mainly the nose!

There have been quite a few comments that Audrey 'does a good nose', and indeed she does. The one below is my favourite nose in the show:


















'Man with Blue Background', oil on canvas, detail.

Now, it's not just the noses that 'stand out', and what also really excites me about Audrey's paintings is her superior handling of paint. For the other paint nerds out, there here's a real treat:


















'Man with Blue Background', oil on canvas, detail II.

Cor, I'm not sure it gets much better than that! Impressive and confident sculpting with thick, thick oil paint. On closer inspection these seemingly random and abstract marks do not appear coherent, but step back a little from the painting and they sit together beautifully in unison. Looking closely at this painting, I'm not even 100% sure what Audrey is using here. A brush? The end of a brush? A palette knife? Fingers? Or perhaps a combination of all four. I will enjoy the time I have left with this painting to look on in wonder.
Here's another cracking example of this masterful command of paint:


















'Man II', oil on canvas, detail.

Looking at Audrey's noses I am reminded of the classic Rembrandt nose which, it is well documented, was often half a finger thick and his portraits could be lifted from the ground by the nose.

I can't help thinking that if Rembrandt were around to see this exhibition, he'd give a nod of approval to the Audrey Grant nose.


















'Man IV', oil on canvas, detail.

Please do come in for a nosy at the noses and to see what is quite simply a sensational exhibition.

Speak soon.



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